Motor vehicles often have cabs raised far enough from the ground that entering the cab through the vehicle's door is not possible in a single step. For example, pickup trucks may have shocks and springs raising the vehicle bodies above the standard chassis Some motor vehicles raising the body far enough from the ground that even the addition of a step adjacent the vehicle's door to the vehicle cab is insufficient to allow easy entry to the motor vehicle's cab. There is thus a need for a side step for attachment to a motor vehicle, and preferably for a side step having two steps to make it easier to enter a vehicle cap located further above the ground than is comfortable for a person entering the cab.
If the vehicle's cab is located a sufficiently large distance from the ground or of a user has restricted capability to take vertical steps, then multiple steps are desirable. But prior art steps may have complex deployment mechanisms or require vehicle modification for installation and use. There is thus a need for multi-step side steps that are simple to make and install.
The nature of vehicles which locate the cab far enough from the ground to require a step to enter the vehicle is that mud, viscous materials and other debris often stick to the shoes of those entering the vehicle. There is thus a need for a way to remove undesirable materials from the shoes of a person entering the vehicle. There is a further need to remove undesirable materials from such shoes while avoiding the accumulation of such materials on any side step for the vehicle.
Side steps are typically fastened to the frame of a motor vehicle. Holes can be drilled in the vehicle frame or body to conform to the mounting brackets of a side step, but doing so requires time and labor which increase expense and also risk damaging the vehicle. Some vehicles have pre-formed mounting locations, but these differ in location and form among vehicles and also differ among vehicle manufactures. Thus, a variety of mounting brackets are needed to connect to a variety of vehicles. But even this presents difficulties because the distance between mounting locations also varies so that a variety of side steps with different lengths must also be maintained for use with a variety of vehicles. There is thus a need for an improved method and apparatus for connecting side steps to motor vehicles that provide fast and easy connections, while reducing the number of different lengths of side steps and connecting parts.